MEET OUR GRADUATES: Travis Dumais

When Dumais applied to Rhode Island College, he was unable to meet the traditional admission requirements because during his last two years in high school he put aside homework to hold jam sessions in his basement. As a result, his grades suffered. Dumais was told he would have to prove himself. 

Through RIC’s Bridges Program, he was allowed to take one probationary year of study at the college. If he met the GPA requirement by the end of the year, he would be admitted as a full-time student. Dumais not only met the requirement, his high degree of scholarship won him a place in the College Honors Program.

Dumais majors in psychology, with a minor in neuroscience. He is also president of the Psi Chi National Honor Society in psychology, founded for the purpose of stimulating and maintaining excellence in scholarship and advancing the science of psychology.

During his tenure at RIC, he conducted research with faculty at Rhode Island College and Brown University that resulted in presentations at the Northeast Undergraduate Research Organization for Neuroscience, the Northeastern Undergraduate Research Development Symposium and the RIC Open Books/Open Minds Student Conference. He also presented his thesis at the International Conference on Religion & Society at the University of California-Berkeley last month.   

At RIC's Cap & Gown ceremony, Dumais was awarded the Eleanor M. McMahon Award for an “outstanding honors thesis” as well as the Victoria Lederberg Psychology Award.

His goal is to pursue a master’s degree in psychology and a doctorate in moral psychology – a unique branch of psychology. But first he intends to take a year off to dust off and tune up his electric guitar.